


Fire in your eyes

by Oh_well_Em_writes



Series: Cooking Classes [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bad Cooking, Clumsy Liam, Competitive Theo, Cooking, Cooking Lessons, First Meetings, Flustered Liam, M/M, Strangers, an actual mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-08 12:37:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15930602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_well_Em_writes/pseuds/Oh_well_Em_writes
Summary: Liam somehow can't cook. He tries though, very hard, but it probably would be easier if he wasn't paired up with a stranger for a cooking 'competition'. (Why couldn't it be Mason anyway?) Even easier if said stranger wasn't going completely crazy because Liam can't work under pressure._“I don’t understand how you can mess this up. Seriously.” Theo says loudly, handing back the whisk to Liam and going back to stir the vegetables in the pan. “It’s super easy, you just have to follow the recipe.” he adds, glaring at Liam.His gaze makes Liam melt. And maybe he has a thing for being yelled at? Maybe it’s the reason he was born so clumsy, so he’s going to mess things up and get yelled at and be happy about it? Well, he’s not happy about it, but he’s certainly something. Theo’s eyes, narrowed, dark, seem to go directly to Liam heart. And he’s weak on the knees.





	Fire in your eyes

**Author's Note:**

> I remember Med talking about Liam being clumsy and Theo being competitive af, therefore being pissed because Liam is just a mess! So here it is.  
> She wanted hate, but... I twisted it a bit! Hopefully it's still as great.
> 
> I'm not that proud of this one, but yeah... I hope you can still enjoy it anyway! 
> 
> P.S. This is in no way linked to the first story in the series! x

The second time Liam walks into the building, he feels more confident that the first. Mason is walking by his side, and he’s patting his shoulder in encouragement, to which Liam replies with a crooked smile.

Last weekend had been a disaster, to say the least. He knows he’s always been clumsy, and has never been able to cook, even though he’d tried. Tried many times, tried to cook something for his mother’s birthday, tried to bake with Mason, only to mess everything up.

What brought them here. Cooking classes. Mason offered to go with him, himself being in need to improve his cooking method. He’s doing better than Liam could ever hope being able to do, but Mason said he still feels the need to get better anyway. Liam isn’t sure if he’s here for himself as he claims, or more for Liam, but it still brought them here in the end.

They are given aprons printed with coloured numbers as they walk in and are told to sit wherever, as for the lesson today, they will be partnered according to their numbers. Liam sends an insecure look to his best friend, who pats his shoulder again with an ‘you’re going to be alright’.

Liam is a bit panicked. He was fine doing it with Mason. But with someone he doesn’t know? He can't even begin to think about it.

Liam is paired with number 8. He looks around the room as everyone goes to their stands and greet their partner, and locks eyes with a boy in a blue apron walking his way. His eyes fall on the number on his chest. This is the man Liam will be cooking with.

Liam can’t take his eyes off of him as he sits down on the stool at his left, smiling slightly and muttering a quick hello as the instructor asks if everyone is paired up and ready to hear the plans for today. Liam extends his a-bit-shaky hand towards him, introducing himself.

The other man takes it, locking eyes once again with Liam. “Theo. Nice to meet you.” Liam internally curses the colour of the apron because it makes Theo’s eyes really stand out. It makes Liam so much more nervous, he really didn’t need that.

But the instructor in front of the stands starts to talk again, and Theo’s hand slips away from Liam’s and he looks at her, brows furrowed in concentration. Liam really should listen to her as well, because he’s already making enough of a mess while being attentive. So he turns away from the man next to him and focuses on the instructor.

Turns out Liam shouldn’t have come today. The plan is to cook a quick meal and bake something. And not only Liam is stressed at the simple idea of screwing up, but this had to be a _competition_ as well. How is he supposed to handle the stress of time, of wanting to win and being scared to disappoint his partner? This is going to be bad.

He glances at Mason who’s sat next to a middle aged lady, and they’re laughing together. As if he sensed it, Mason turns around and meets his gaze. The look on his best friend's face makes Liam understand he probably looks as panicked as he feels inside. Mason gives him a thumb-up and mouths a ‘good luck’, and the lady nods at him encouragingly before they both turn back.

* * *

 

“What are you doing?” Theo hisses, taking the whisk away from Liam’s clumsy hands. Liam can’t do anything but step back and watch him try to make better what he messed up.

This is going worse than Liam expected. He keeps making things fall, forgetting what the next step was, putting the wrong things in the wrong pot and Theo’s angry gaze makes it so much worse. Liam really can’t handle any pressure.

And the worst thing of all of this is that Theo is competitive. Not only does he look like he _needs_ to win, but he also looks like he’s ready to _kill_ anything or anyone who gets in his way to victory. Thing is, Liam is somehow standing in the middle of the road, and his feet are stuck.

It both scares and fascinates Liam. That light in his eyes as he cuts vegetables, checks that Liam has not burnt his side of the stand and watches the time. He looks more alive than Liam has ever seen anyone be, in a long time. The only problem is that Liam wouldn’t mind that angry determined energy if half of it wasn’t directed at him for having butter fingers.

“I don’t understand how you can mess this up. Seriously.” Theo says loudly, handing back the whisk to Liam and going back to stir the vegetables in the pan. “It’s super easy, you just have to follow the recipe.” he adds, glaring at Liam.

His gaze makes Liam melt. And maybe he has a thing for being yelled at? Maybe it’s the reason he was born so clumsy, so he’s going to mess things up and get yelled at and be happy about it? Well, he’s not _happy_ about it, but he’s certainly _something_. Theo’s eyes, narrowed, dark, seem to go directly to Liam heart. And he’s weak on the knees.

“Sorry.” he mutters, reading once again the next step in the dessert making just to be sure the sugar was the next thing to add.

* * *

 

“Add the curry in this pan while I check this please.” Theo tells Liam as he walks to the little fridge joint to their own counter. Liam looks around trying to find the curry. Easy, curry is yellow, right? There shouldn’t be many things looking like curry here. He grabs one little pot and checks the label. _Curry._ He smiles to himself, puts it close to the pan next to other pots and grabs the recipe to check the amount he has to use.

He grabs the pot back, pours some in a big spoon and throws it in the cooking mixture. He stirs happily, smelling the steam coming from the meal. It smells good.

He turns to Theo when the other comes stand next to him, their shoulder close as he bends over the pan, sniffing the mixture, mirroring what Liam had been doing a second ago. Only to freeze. He slowly turns towards Liam, dark eyes locking with Liam now wide ones. The smile has faded from Liam’s face, and he’s sure he looks paler than a ghost when Theo speaks.

“What did you put in there.” Liam looks around, grabbing the still open pot from the counter, showing it to Theo without a word. The other slowly takes it from Liam’s shaky hands and stares at the label. Liam wants to disappear.

“You actually didn’t do that, right? I’m dreaming, this isn’t possible.” he says, mostly to himself. Liam searches his face to understand, but is only met with the darkest look in history. “You put fucking turmeric instead of curry, you absolute moron.” Theo curses and Liam feels like a kid being told off, because he actually _is_. He can’t believe he’s grabbed the wrong pot. He had one job.

Theo pushes past him, dipping the tip of a spoon in the mixture and brings it to his lips. He sighs angrily. “I don’t know how to save the meal now but I’ll have to find a way, we can’t start again, we don’t have enough time... and ingredient, for that matter.” he says, pinching the bridge of his nose. He glowers at Liam when the latter apologizes for the hundredth time today.

“Stop saying sorry, for the love of god.” Theo hisses, stirring angrily. Liam takes a step backwards. He really wants to say sorry again before fleeing and hoping to never see the guy again. And live in a cave for the rest of his life – where his terrible cooking skills can annoy only him, and he never embarrasses himself like that ever again.

“You do step 6 of the second recipe. You have to mix three things together. Not that hard.” Theo says and Liam does just that, head hanging low.

* * *

 

Liam stares at the bechamel cream he’s tried to do. It looks… weird. He doesn’t know why. He’s seen one before, seen his mother do it, and it certainly didn’t look that bad, all lumpy and simply looking _wrong._ He’s done everything the right way though, he’s sure of it, the butter, the flour and the milk. Pepper and salt as well, nothing more or less than what it should be.

He stares harder at the inside of his saucepan as if it was going to say, _there, it’s where you messed up_ , but of course nothing happens. He glances at Theo next to him, whose face is scrunched up in concentration as he reads closely the recipe, one hand still stirring the mixture Liam hope he’s been able to save. He’s afraid to ask though.

But the harder he stares at the weird-looking cream in his saucepan, the more he tells himself he needs to ask Theo.

“Hum… Theo?” he calls shyly, seeing the other face him at the mention of his name.

“Yeah?” he asks, looking up and down from Liam’s scared face to the mixture cooking, making sure to leave none out of his sight for too long.

“Can you check my bechamel please? It looks weird?” Liam tries to calm his beating heart as Theo gets closer, peering over the saucepan. Liam’s hand has not let go of it yet and he jumps at the sudden contact when Theo puts his hand over Liam’s to bring the cream closer to his face. He’s frowning.

“This doesn’t look right. What have you done?” he asks Liam, and the thing is, Liam has _no_ idea.

“I don’t know, I’m sure I did everything right. I don’t understand.” his hand is still trapped under Theo’s, and he’s scared the handle is going to slide off so much he’s sweating. He's pretty sure the crazy beating of his heart is not due to fear, though.

“Show me what you did exactly.” Theo says, redirecting their hands so the saucepan is not in the air anymore, and he lets go of Liam’s hand before lowering the heat under his own pan so it doesn’t burn while he looks at what Liam did.

When his blue-greenish eyes are fixated on Liam, the latter starting to point at the things he used, explaining he used that much while also showing the recipe to prove he didn’t get it wrong. What he did wrong is soon spotted by Theo’s eagle eye.

When he slowly wraps his hand around Liam’s wrist to stop him from putting the flour back on the counter, Liam knows. This is where he messed up. He doesn’t know in which way yet, as he is sure he put exactly the right amount in, but he knows he will soon guess.

Theo turns the label to look at it before he pinches the bridge of his nose. He inhales, eyes closed. “You put corn flour, not the regular wheat flour everyone uses.” He opens his eyes again, the scowl in his face disturbing his features a bit. Liam still thinks he looks wonderful.

“I didn’t know there was such a thing!” Liam replies in a hurry, taking his wrist away from Theo’s dead grip and putting the flour back on the counter. He quickly grabs the other flour package, that he only notices now, and checks it. It’s the right flour this time.

He glances at Theo, before emptying the saucepan in the bin and starting again without a word. If guilt was a colour that could show on his face, he’d be literally covered of it. But probably hidden underneath the now characteristic red of his cheeks, darkening the more he messes up.

* * *

 

Mason turns back when he hears Liam shriek and something collapsing on the floor. Their eyes meet for a moment and for a second all eyes are on Liam. Most of them go back to their things and Mason sends him a reassuring look before resuming his cooking. Liam is scared to look up at Theo, and he feels him glare a hole in the top of his head as he kneels down with a sponge to gather the egg exploded on the tiles.

Theo kneels in front of him, helping him. “Listen, get a grip okay.” he says, sighing. His voice is softer than Liam has heard it since they started cooking. He doesn’t even seem angry anymore, just disappointed, which is so much worse.

He takes the sponge from Liam’s hand gently, as if Liam was a kid and being angry didn’t work so he decided to try another method. “Don’t think about the time okay, just do your thing.” he explains, gathering Liam’s mess while the latter stands there, staring at Theo’s moving hands. He gets distracted by how his fingers move, by their form and the veins visible under the skin. He feels heat come to his cheeks as he realises Theo has already stood up again and Liam is still on one knee behind the counter.

He gets ups hurriedly, and glances at Theo who’s watching him with a raised brow.

“Sorry you ended up with me.” Liam mutters, trying his best to keep his eyes locked with Theo to make sure the message is clear and Liam really meant it.

“It’s okay – I get a bit competitive myself. Sorry about that.” he says, shrugging. The fire in his eyes still shines, but it doesn’t seem to be directed at Liam anymore. “So you do your thing. Take your time. If you have any doubt, just ask me.” he smiles at Liam before turning back to his own thing.

Liam can’t stop thinking about it. He really wants to do his best. Not even that, because his best kind of sucks anyway, but he want to do better, enough for Theo. To see that smile again, maybe.

So he frowns, rolls up his sleeves and stares harder at the recipe. _I can do this._ He tells himself, before he starts trying again.

* * *

 

Liam is happy. He managed not to mix anything together, didn’t break anything else, didn’t stand in Theo’s way when he needed something. Theo had managed to save the curry meal Liam had messed up, there are no signs of the broken egg anymore, and Liam’s second bechamel cream was a success.

The finished dessert and meal stand before them, as the instructor congrats them all for the good team work and tells them that she will now proceed to taste each meal and dessert to give the prize to the winners.

Liam is fidgeting with the hem of his apron, and he feels Theo stare at him. He manages not to look back at him until he hears him speak.

“Pressure doesn’t work good with anyone, don’t worry.” he says, nudging Liam’s shoulder with his own. Now that the cooking is done, Liam truly takes time to notice how Theo is only an inch taller than he is. Without the frown and the raging light in his eyes, he looks at peace. Almost soft.

“Yeah, I guess.” Liam mumbles, not able to look him in the eyes.

Turns out their meal won the third place, even though it didn’t taste exactly how it was supposed to because of the wrong ingredients, the Chef liked it well enough. When the results were announced, it was the first time Liam saw Theo smile, thoothy, real, happy.

Liam looked up at him in awe, when he ruffled his hair.

“Good job, Liam.” he says, and Liam realises it was the first time he called him by his name, causing warmth to spread in his stomach.

“You too.” he answers, before watching Theo start to take his apron off and walk to the instructor. He gestures to the door, explaining a few things and she smiles understandingly, patting his shoulder before they both wave at each other.

Mason is by his side, and they both look at Theo as he heads towards the exit. He glances at Liam as he walks through the door frame, and he smiles, waving, a gesture more like his hand raised in the air in Liam’s direction.

Liam smiles crookedly back, his cheeks flushing and his hand mind air, not even getting time to properly salute him back that Theo is already gone.

“Glad to see you’re alive.” Mason tells him, bringing the attention back to himself. He smiles knowingly when he catches Liam’s eyes.

Liam shrugs, glancing again at the door Theo just disappear through. “Do you think he’ll come back?” he asks.

“Only time will tell.” Mason squeezes his shoulder, and proceeds to lead Liam to the centre table where all the things everyone has cooked are exposed to be tasted and eaten.

Liam glances back at the door. Theo looks really good when he smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Leave a comment telling me what you thought if you want to - I'd love to read you.
> 
> Constructive criticism is always welcomed, and kudos are highly appreciated!
> 
> I hope to see you soon. (for something better, promise.) xx


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